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 Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:54 pm
Writ, not wanting to be left out, joined along with the laughter.
"I don' get it, what's so funny?" He asked, after wiping a tear from his insincere laughter.
Ah well.
"So you paired up with Ciro, huh?" Writ bounced his legs against the ledge again, "Well, you're a hell lot better to talk to, that's for sure." He wasn't going to hold that against Fish. It's not like the kid's tried to kill him or anything.
"Seen Maria and Jubs." Writ said about the other godlings, "Seen some new faces too, I swear newbies are popping up everywhere." He chuckled, "They're getting fiestier, one of them tried to start a fight with me and Vlad. Kid's not gonna last long doing things like that."
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 2:06 pm
Fish, who had just managed to get himself back under control, looked at Writ and promptly burst out laughing again. "Dramatic irony," he wheezed, fighting to quiet himself. "I know something you don't know," he explained, finally calm again, "And it's turning everything you say into an innuendo."
He grinned and kicked his legs back and forth against the ledge. "Newbies, huh?" he asked, and something clicked in his mind. "I met a newbie, too! A girl I used to go to school with is playing." He chuckled as well, trying to imagine a scab-kneed kid taking on Writ. "It's hard to believe we were ever clueless like that! Newbies just seem so... young."
"But I guess they grow up to be big bad players, right?" he asked uneasily.
"Hey, I wonder if we're all gonna get any older before this is over?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:35 pm
"Oh?" Writ was curious now, "What don't I know? You can tell meeeeeeee..." He said childishly squeaky voice, his head tilted like curious puppy.
"Yeah, Kinda miss the young... er. days, you know? At least I was stupid and could get away with it. I'm not as stupid now, but still." Writ pointed to the sky, "I think I would've been able to learn stuff without his pushing."
He laid back on the roof, "Don't know why the gods are still growing kids though, I mean, you could find someone my age and play the game that way, right?"
"Not too old I hope." Writ laughed on Fish's last question, "Last thing I want is to be a crusty old man."
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:48 pm
Fish glanced warily at Writ and then regretted even bringing it up in the first place. "No," he said, and thanked the gods for the change of subject.
"Yeah, but I think that if Miss Floros or Anubis were to walk up to someone our age, like, a teenager? Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen? And told them about the game, I don't think they'd believe them. My roommates keep asking what I do, and I can't tell 'em because they wouldn't believe me." He screwed up his face and adopted a pompous tone of voice. "OH, yes, I spend my time playing a game about the fate of the planet. Tallyho."
He laughed and looked up at the sky. A faint glimmer of starlight was visible through the crisscrossing levels above them.
"It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:32 pm
"Awwww." Writ groaned in that whiny, I-can't-get-what-I-want groan that kids made to their parents when they wouldn't give them a toy. Though like the "Mature" teenager he was, he decided not to press it.
"True." Writ shrugged, "Kids will believe anything. Look at Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. Hell, I still believed in the tooth fairy before I met my god."
Writ smiled at Fish's impression and then laughed, "No, you know what you should do? Get them when they're high, and then say that, I bet they'd believe you then."
Writ's had a lot of experience of Pot smoking, more, the sober watching side of it. Someone had to watch Coyote when he was on one of his drug trips.
Writ shrugged, "What's ridiculous is that the gods got together and decided that a bunch of kids like us would have to duke it out over the fate of the world! I mean, look at us, running away from home, living with hippies and eating out of garbage cans... Well, the last one's just me, but still- ridiculous!" He laughed at how convulated it all sounded.
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Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:30 am
Fish smiled faintly. Of course, when you stopped to think about it, the entire concept of the Game was ridiculous. Kids fighting over the fate of the world? Who came up with this stuff? He laughed.
"I think it's kind of scary how much control they have over us," he explained softly. "I mean, right now everything's off and quiet and we're talking like old buddies, but back when the alliances and things were still on and I found Ciro lying beat up in an alley, I was about ready to go find you and kill you."
He brushed his hair behind his ear and pointed to the gills on his neck. "I mean, my whole life's been shaped by Poseidon. I've looked like this since the day I was born. My whole life has been changed by being different. My thoughts, my body, my personality?"
He laughed. "Would I have this whole greek hero thing going on if it wasn't for the Game?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 2:04 pm
"Ciro in the alley? I remember that... I didn't hurt him, he was like that when I saw him. I grabbed him by the shirt and told him off, but I didn't beat him up." Writ sighed, "You know, it's silly, the only reason I could remember for being enemies with Ciro was that I spilt coffee on his pants that one time. I think the rest is because my god doesn't like his."
He rubbed his chin, it seemed that Coyote had more power over him than he thought. At least, back when he was still a kid.
"I don't know if Coyote's effected me." He shrugged, "Other than the ears... Never thought about it till now really."
"Greek Hero thing, eh? Coyote said the Greeks were kinda weird. What do Greek heroes do? Do they have like, costumes and stuff?" Writ was kidding, of course.
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Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 2:37 pm
"You didn't do anything to him that time?" asked Fish, a bit surprised. "I'm glad I didn't find you, then."
Fish stared at his feet for a while, wondering what the best way to explain it was. "No, it's not that kind of thing," he said. "Poseidon calls it a Greek Hero Thing... It means..."
Oh, for gods' sake, might as well spit it out!
"ItmeansImgay," said Fish quickly. There. That felt better.
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Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 7:53 pm
The god and the godling reacted very differently.
Coyote, being a god from a pantheon whose male followers were mostly warriors, hunters and all around manly men, was laughing so loud that Writ heard it echo through his head.
Writ, on the other hand- raised by a couple of Liberals in the artsy part of Middling- who preached tolerance for fear that their son would offend customers- took this information as a sort of pleasant surprise. He wasn't shocked, just awkward.
There was that odd silence again.
"Ohhhhhhh." Writ realized with a chuckle, "So that's what you meant by 'Innuendo'" He gave Fish a nod, "That's cool, with me, I mean... Heh." Writ was tongue tied. He took a moment to straighten out his words.
"I mean, I worked in a cafe- there's a few gay regulars so I'm used to it." Writ shrugged, "Yeah... Uh, so how long have you been out of the closet?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:10 pm
Well, decided Fish, that went better than possibly hoped for. He stared out across the street and drew his knees in close to his chest. A long, tense silence passed between the two young men.
"I don't know if you could call me 'out'," he said finally. "Poseidon's been saying it practically since I grew, but I never connected the dots and figured out what he meant until... Until Miss Floros explained it to me."
He sighed, a bit embarrassed by the whole ordeal.
"I mean, it makes sense now that I know what he's talking about. I won't deny feeling that way, but... It just happened too fast. Back in the real world I just turned twelve."
At that, he laughed.
"That's a kind of weird thought, huh?"'
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Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:33 pm
"You said it, I just turned eleven. Supposed to anyway." Writ sighed. He didn't even get a birthday present.
"Well Fish, this is the real world." Writ stood up and presented the cityscape with a flourish, "Here we are, two god-blessed teenagers fighting for the fate of the Earth." He sat back down and chuckled, "Least there's never a dull moment."
After some silence, Writ sighed again.
"Man, I can't believe you're older than me."
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Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:31 am
"You wouldn't know it, looking at us!" laughed Fish. He figured he'd known that Writ was younger and simply forgotten. He remembered the boy from when they had first begun to play, and Writ had been younger than him then.
"Well," said Fish, hopping to his feet. He'd dawdled long enough. "It was nice to have this heart-to-heart, but I should really go find Ciro. Seeyah, Writ."
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Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:18 am
"Been nice talking to ya again." Writ said, waving Fish good-bye, "Don't mention this talk to Ciro, yeah? Last thing I want him to do is remember that I exist."
A laugh.
"But seriously, he's probably still in a foul mood. Watch your back."
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